The present invention is directed to a container system for pressurized fluids including a pressure vessel that is lightweight and compact and a fluid control valve for regulating fluid flow into and/or out of the pressure vessel.
There are many applications for a portable supply of fluid under pressure. For example, SCUBA divers and firefighters use portable, pressurized oxygen supplies. Commercial aircraft employ emergency oxygen delivery systems that are used during sudden and unexpected cabin depressurization. Military aircraft typically require supplemental oxygen supply systems as well. Such systems are supplied by portable pressurized canisters. In the medical field, gas delivery systems are provided to administer medicinal gas, such as oxygen, to a patient undergoing respiratory therapy. Supplemental oxygen delivery systems are used by patients that benefit from receiving and breathing oxygen from an oxygen supply source to supplement atmospheric oxygen breathed by the patient. For such uses, a compact, portable supplemental oxygen delivery system is useful in a wide variety of contexts, including hospital, home care, and ambulatory settings.
High-pressure supplemental oxygen delivery systems typically include a cylinder or tank containing oxygen gas at a pressure of up to 3,000 psi. A pressure regulator is used in a high-pressure oxygen delivery system to xe2x80x9cstep downxe2x80x9d the pressure of oxygen gas to a lower pressure (e.g., 20 to 50 psi) suitable for use in an oxygen delivery apparatus used by a person breathing the supplemental oxygen.
In supplemental oxygen delivery systems, and in other applications employing portable supplies of pressurized gas, containers used for the storage and use of compressed fluids, and particularly gases, generally take the form of cylindrical metal bottles that may be wound with reinforcing materials to withstand high fluid pressures. Such storage containers are expensive to manufacture, inherently heavy, bulky, inflexible, and prone to violent and explosive fragmentation upon rupture.
Container systems made from lightweight synthetic materials have been proposed. Scholley, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,932,403; 5,036,845; and 5,127,399, describes a flexible and portable container for compressed gases which comprises a series of elongated, substantially cylindrical chambers arranged in a parallel configuration and interconnected by narrow, bent conduits and attached to the back of a vest that can be worn by a person. The container includes a liner, which may be formed of a synthetic material such as nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane, tetrafluoroethylene, or polyester. The liner is covered with a high-strength reinforcing fiber, such as a high-strength braid or winding of a reinforcing material such as Kevlar(copyright) aramid fiber, and a protective coating of a material, such as polyurethane, covers the reinforcing fiber. The design described in the Scholley patents suffers a number of shortcomings which makes it impractical for use as a container for fluids stored at the pressure levels typically seen in portable fluid delivery systems such as SCUBA gear, firefighter""s oxygen systems, emergency oxygen systems, and medicinal oxygen systems. The elongated, generally cylindrical shape of the separate storage chambers does not provide an effective structure for containing highly-pressurized fluids. Moreover, the relatively large volume of the storage sections creates an unsafe system subject to possible violent rupture due to the kinetic energy of the relatively large volume of pressurized fluid stored in each chamber.
In accordance with aspects of the present invention, a container system for pressurized fluids comprises a pressure vessel with a fluid flow control valve attached thereto. The pressure vessel comprises a plurality of hollow chambers formed from a polymeric material interconnected by polymeric conduit sections disposed between consecutive ones of the hollow chambers. The fluid transfer control valve controls the flow of fluid with respect to the interior of the pressure vessel defined by the interiors of the hollow chambers and the conduit sections. The fluid transfer control valve comprises a valve body having a fluid chamber formed therein. At least a portion of the chamber is in fluid communication with the interior of said pressure vessel. The valve further includes a pressure relief mechanism coupled to the fluid chamber and constructed and arranged to permit fluid to flow out of the pressure vessel when the fluid within the pressure vessel exceeds a prescribed threshold level to thereby reduce pressure within the pressure vessel.
The fluid flow control valve may also include a filter element disposed along a fluid flow path formed in the valve body. Alternatively, or in addition, a portion of the flow path may be formed as a restrictive flow path to reduce the pressure of fluid flowing through the flow path.
Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of the specification, and wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures.